Newly discovered van der Waals materials like MoS$_2$, WSe$_2$, hexagonalboron nitride (h-BN), and recently $\mathrm{C}_2\mathrm{N}$ have sparkedintensive research to unveil the quantum behavior associated with their 2Dstructure. Of great interest are 2D materials that host single quantumemitters. h-BN, with a band gap of 5.95 eV, has been shown to host singlequantum emitters which are stable at room temperature in the UV and visiblespectral range. In this paper we investigate correlations between h-BNstructural features and emitter location from bulk down to the monolayer atroom temperature. We demonstrate that chemical etching and ion irradiation cangenerate emitters in h-BN. We analyze the emitters' spectral features and showthat they are dominated by the interaction of their electronic transition witha single Raman active mode of h-BN. Photodynamics analysis reveals diverserates between the electronic states of the emitter. The emitters show excellentphoto stability even under ambient conditions and in monolayers. Comparing theexcitation polarization between different emitters unveils a connection betweendefect orientation and the h-BN hexagonal structure. The sharp spectralfeatures, color diversity, room-temperature stability, long-lived metastablestates, ease of fabrication, proximity of the emitters to the environment,outstanding chemical stability, and biocompatibility of h-BN provide acompletely new class of systems that can be used for sensing and quantumphotonics applications.
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